27. The Ants (59 – 85)

⁵⁹Say [Prophet], ‘Praise be to God and peace on the servants He has chosen.^a As messengers, see e.g. 3: 33. Who is better: God, or those they set up as partners with Him? ⁶⁰Who created the heavens and earth? Who sends down water from the sky for you—with which We cause gardens of delight to grow: you have no power to make the trees grow in them—is it another god beside God? No! But they are people who take others to be equal with God. ⁶¹Who is it that made the earth a stable place to live? Who made rivers flow through it? Who set immovable mountains on it and created a barrier between the fresh and salt water? Is it another god beside God? No! But most of them do not know.⁶²Who is it that answers the distressed when they call upon Him? Who removes their suffering? Who makes you successors in the earth? Is it another god beside God? Little notice you take! ⁶³Who is it that guides you through the darkness on land and sea? Who sends the winds as heralds of good news before His mercy? ^b i.e. rain. Is it another god beside God? God is far above the partners they put beside him! ⁶⁴Who is it that creates life and reproduces it? Who is it that gives you provision from the heavens and earth? Is it another god beside God?’ Say, ‘Show me your evidence then, if what you say is true.’

⁶⁵Say, ‘No one in the heavens or on earth knows the unseen except God.’ They do not know when they will be raised from the dead: ⁶⁶their knowledge cannot comprehend the Hereafter; they are in doubt about it; they are blind to it. ⁶⁷So the disbelievers say, ‘What! When we and our forefathers have become dust, shall we be brought back to life again?⁶⁸We have heard such promises before, and so did our forefathers. These are just ancient fables.’ ⁶⁹[Prophet], say, ‘Travel through the earth and see how the evildoers ended up.’ ⁷⁰They [Prophet], do not grieve over them; do not be distressed by their schemes.⁷¹also say, ‘When will this promise be fulfilled if what you say is true?’ ⁷²Say, ‘Maybe some of what you seek to hasten is near at hand.’ ⁷³Your Lord is bountiful to people, though most of them are ungrateful. ⁷⁴He knows everything their hearts conceal and everything they reveal:⁷⁵there is nothing hidden in the heavens or on earth that is not in a clear Record.

⁷⁶Truly, this Qurʾan explains to the Children of Israel most of what they differ about, ⁷⁷and it is guidance and grace for those who believe. ⁷⁸Truly, your Lord will judge between them in His wisdom—He is the Almighty, the All Knowing—⁷⁹so [Prophet], put your trust in God, you are on the path of clear truth. ⁸⁰You cannot make the dead hear, you cannot make the deaf listen to your call when they turn their backs and leave, ⁸¹you cannot guide the blind out of their error: you cannot make anyone hear you except those who believe in Our signs and submit [to Us]. ⁸²When the verdict is given against them, We shall bring a creature out of the earth, which will tell them that people had no faith in Our revelations.⁸³The Day will come when We gather from every community a crowd of those who disbelieved in Our signs and they will be led in separate groups ⁸⁴until, when they come before Him, He will say, ‘Did you deny My messages without even taking them in? Or what were you doing?’ ⁸⁵The verdict will be given against them because of their wrongdoing: they will not speak.